Course Listing

Fundamental concepts and formalisms of conservation of energy and increase of entropy as applied to natural and engineered environmental and biological systems. In addition to lectures, pedagogical approach includes real-world observations and applications through student presentations and projects.

This course will review some introductory geophysical fluid dynamics before focusing primarily on the physics of the stratosphere. Topics covered will include eddy transport of heat and momentum, stratospheric Rossby and gravity waves, wave-mean flow interaction, and tracer transport. The course will alternate lecture with in-class coding activities. Each week will have a preparatory reading and brief assignment.

This is a core course for students in the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences program. The course will begin with methods for modeling engineering and business systems, including discrete and continuous systems and feedback controls. Students will write simple simulations and then use professional modeling software to simulate complex systems. Students will next learn design methodology, including stakeholder modeling, ideation, and decision making tools. A final team project will involve design of a system, including simulation and prototyping.

This course will provide students with an introduction to environmental science and engineering by providing an overview of current environmental issues, including climate change, air pollution, and water pollution. Students critically evaluate underlying science and knowledge limitations, and explore the nexus between scientific knowledge, regulatory frameworks, and engineering solutions to some of the world's most pressing environmental problems. The course will emphasize the interconnected biological, geological, and chemical cycles of the earth system including the multi-dimensional impacts of human activity.

This course introduces students to the fluid Earth, emphasizing Earth's weather and climate, the carbon cycle, and global environmental change. The physical concepts necessary for understanding the structure, motion and energy balance of the atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere are covered first, and then these concepts are applied in exploring major earth processes. Examples from Earth's past history, on-going changes in the climate, and implications for the future are highlighted.

An introduction to the science of global warming/ climate change meant to assist students in understanding issues that often appear in the news and public debates. The course is meant for any student with basic math preparation, not assuming prior science courses. Topics include the greenhouse effect and the consequences of the rise of greenhouse gasses, including sea level rise, ocean acidification, heat waves, droughts, glacier melting, hurricanes, forest fires, and more. An ability to critically evaluate observations, predictions, and risks will be emphasized throughout. The students will be involved in in-class quantitative analysis of climate observations, feedbacks, and models via Python Jupyter notebooks that will be provided.

Statistical inference, deterministic and stochastic models of data, denoising and filtering, data, visualization, time series analysis, image processing, Monte Carlo methods. The course emphasizes hands-on learning using real data drawn from atmospheric and environmental observations, applied by students in projects and presentations.

This course will examine the fundamental ecosystem and anthropogenic processes that govern the flow of carbon and nutrients in our environment. With five hands-on lab sessions covering topics such as carbon sequestration/mineralization, warming effect, methanogenesis, and nutrient removal, students will gain a holistic understanding and appreciation of physical, biological, chemical, and anthropogenic processes that shape our environment. The final lab will also serve as the final project where students design their own experiment and quantify/model the effect of global warming on an ecosystem process.

Observations and fundamentals of ocean dynamics, from the role of the oceans in climate change to beach waves. Topics include the greenhouse effect and the role of the oceans in global warming; El Niño events in the equatorial Pacific Ocean; the wind-driven ocean circulation and the Gulf Stream; coastal upwelling and fisheries; temperature, salinity, the overturning ocean circulation and its effect on global climate stability and variability; wave motions: surface ocean waves, internal waves, tsunamis, and tides; ocean observations by ships, satellites, moorings, floats and more. A field trip to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod will be an opportunity to learn about sea-going oceanography. Students will be doing a group video project and group in-class presentations. Scientific computation and visualization methods will be introduced (students may choose either Matlab or Python) and will be used for some homework assignments.

Chemical and physical processes determining the composition of the atmosphere and its implications for climate and life on Earth. Nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon cycles. Climate forcing by greenhouse gases and aerosols. Stratospheric ozone. Oxidizing power of the atmosphere. Methane. Surface air pollution: aerosols and ozone. Deposition to ecosystems: acid rain, nitrogen, mercury. Emphasis is on the construction of simple engineering models and the application of chemical principles to understand and address current environmental issues.

We will study the evidence in the climate record for dramatic changes in the climate system and delve into how these challenge our understanding of climate dynamics.  Case studies will include the dim early sun paradox, the Snowball Earth, Equable Climates, Glacial/Interglacial and Stadial/Interstadial transitions and ENSO.

This course is an introduction to the challenges involved in designing spacecraft for observation of Earth and exploration of other planets. Topics covered include basic atmospheric and planetary science, key principles of remote sensing, telemetry, orbital transfer theory, propulsion and launch system design, and thermal and power management.

This course will examine the theory and practical application of environmental chemistry and toxicology for assessing the behavior, toxicity and human health risks of chemical contaminants in the environment. The goals of the course are to: (a) illustrate how various sub-disciplines in environmental toxicology are integrated to understand the behavior of pollutants; (b) demonstrate how scientific information is applied to inform environmental management decisions and public policy through several case studies; and (c) provide an introduction to the legislative framework in which environmental toxicology is conducted. This course will be directed toward undergraduate students with a basic understanding of chemistry and calculus and an interest in applied science and engineering to address environmental management problems.

Learn about environmental chemistry of the Earth, especially the intersections with human activities of pollution and technologies and approaches of environmental sciences and engineering. The focus is on water and soils. Topics include the hydrosphere, the distribution of chemical species in aquatic systems, gases in water, organic matter in water, metals and semi-metals in the hydrosphere, water pollution and water treatment chemistry, the terrestrial environment, soil properties, the chemistry of solid wastes, and toxic organic chemicals. 

ESE/EPS 166 engages the new Harvard Climate Observatory that will fundamentally herald a new era in the quantitative dissection of the physics controlling critical climate systems. The central objective of the New Climate Observatory is to address this problem by introducing, for the first time, the development of a new generation of advanced technology that takes explicit advantage of recent major advances in laser systems, lidars, radars, nanoelectronics, photonics and optical designs in combination with advanced solar powered stratospheric aeronautical design. Together these enable a combination of long duration solar powered observing systems, each targeted at the highest priority risk factors that threaten global societal stability. The resulting observations will, for the first time, provide the irrefutable evidence needed for quantitative forecasts of the dominant risk factors stemming from the global use of fossil fuels.

While satellites have for years dominated the federal climate programs, for the purpose of developing tested and trusted quantitative forecasts of risk, satellites engender significant disadvantages. In sharp contrast to satellite systems, the new Harvard Climate Observatory provides, for the first time, orders of magnitude improvement in spatial and temporal resolution observations. ESE/EPS 166 will focus explicitly on this new generation of climate observations and forecasting.

This course provides a cross-disciplinary overview of environmental science and how research contributes to public policy and human health risk assessment through a case study of a global pollution issue. The case study for the Fall of 2023 will be eutrophication and mercury cycling. The course this year will focus on exposing students to a combination of field, lab and modeling techniques used in environmental sciences through an intensive study of nutrient cycling and mercury bioaccumulation on Cape Cod, MA.  The class will include field visits, lab work, and interactive group research aimed at synthesizing research findings. Experience conducting multidisciplinary environmental research and data analysis will be provided. Course Activities: Lectures, discussions, presentations, field/lab research, environmental modeling.